On this Island in Lough Ree, six churches make up the extensive remains of a monastery founded in the early 6th century by St Diarmuid. These include the Belfry Church, set on the highest point on the Island, an unusual Romanesque church with a square...
In the middle of Lough Derg is a solitary, uninhabited, 49 acre island whose atmosphere takes visitors back to the golden age of Irish Christianity. St Caimin founded a monastery here in the 7h century. It grew to be a large establishment, he well-preserved remains...
The stubby, crenelated tower of the 13th century St Lazerian Protestant Cathedral stands at Old Leighlin. And nearby is the site of a 7th century monastery and Lazerian’s Well – a place of pilgrimage that after 13 centuries still attracts offerings of medals, crucifixes and...
The impressive fortifications that crown Dunree Head are a reminder of the strategic importance of Lough Swilly. In 1800, when Ireland was faced with the Napoleonic threat, heavy guns where mounted on the bluff of rock that commands the entrance to the lough. Martello towers...
This was the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Dal Riada, and is thought to have been one of the three great ‘duns’, or royal forts, visited by St Patrick in the 5th century. It lay at the end of an ancient route from Dundalk...
Westport was laid out as an adjunct to the Marquess of Sligo’s Westport House in the late 18th century, and its legacy of town planning can be seen in the comfortably spacious streets. The town focuses on the canalised River Carrowbeg, which tumbles gently over...
The dark, biscuit-coloured tower of Jerpoint Abbey, with its battlements, rears above a bend on the road South from Thomastown. The Abbey is one of the most awesome religious remains in Ireland, yet, because many of its domestic arrangements are still recognisable, it also gives...
Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!...
A single small tower is all that remains of the castle where, during the late 16th century, the poet Edmund Spenser lived. In 1580 he had gone to Ireland as secretary to the Lord Deputy, who was in charge of crushing the rebellious Irish population....
Once a freebooters’ stronghold, on a tongue of land that projects into Sheep Haven, Doe Castle dates from the early 15th century. Its name is an anglicised version of the Irish word ‘tuath’, meaning district or territory. In the 1440s it fell into the hands...